Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg hopes her newly launched All Women’s Sports Network will bring more attention to women’s sports.
Goldberg launched the network with George Cheung, co-founder of international media holding company Djungo TV. It is the first global media channel to exclusively feature women’s sports and is available in the U.S. on the free streaming service Vizio WatchFree+.
Goldberg told CNBC that her childhood passion for sports and a desire to increase female representation in the field inspired her to start the network.
“I want little girls to have so-called baseball cards of their new favorite players. And I want them to chase after Mickey Mantle just like I chased Mickey Mantle. I want to have it,” Goldberg said.
AWSN is also available from international partners in India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines.
The network plans to broadcast 2,000 hours of live sports from the rest of this year through 2025. A wide range of sports will be featured, from soccer, basketball, volleyball and field hockey to cricket, judo and table tennis.
Actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg will appear on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
Todd Owyon | NBC Universal | Getty Images
Goldberg said she hopes the growth of women’s basketball and soccer will help shine a spotlight on other women’s sports.
“I think we’re seeing more great basketball being played and more people are saying, ‘Oh, I want to see more of that game.'” There are other women we don’t know about. What sport do you play? I love roller derby. I want America to have a roller derby team. ” Goldberg said. “It’s a woman doing it, so I want it to be brought out into the world.”
Chung said All Women’s Sports Network is available in approximately 20 million U.S. households through Vizio WatchFree+. The company says AWSN will be available in more than 100 million homes in the coming months.
Goldberg admitted that he initially encountered some resistance when launching the network, but once he met Chan, their goals were aligned.
“I like a good business proposition, and I want this to last far beyond my lifetime. I want it to be as famous as ABC, NBC, and CBS.” she said.
Disclosure: NBC and CNBC are divisions of NBCUniversal.
Description: AWSN will be available in over 100 million homes in the coming months. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the prediction.
